You CAN count on family
by tvfan69
Summary: Something about it just didn't sit right with her, how could he have just vanished into thin air? Jade may have been the one who said family was "every girl for herself" but Artemis found one who was "all for one", and no way is she letting her sister lose that so easily.
1. Chapter 1

Dick told Roy, Roy told Jade, and Jade ended up at her sister's doorstep fifteen minutes past midnight.

She and Artemis had a strained relationship at best, though Jade knew she could only blame herself for that. Leaving when they were younger wasn't something Jade regretted, not at all.

But not taking Artemis with her?

Yeah that ranked pretty high on the list.

Still Artemis was there for her during her pregnancy with Lian, though that was after an hour of yelling and pacing around their old bedroom in frustration, even in the following months Jade would still receive a stink eye from her sister every other time she visited, though it never once seemed to stem from disappointment. Anyway Jade figured that they may not be the best of friends, the closest of sisters, and she sure as hell has never genuinely tried comforting anyone, but what's the worst that could happen?

* * *

Artemis was lying on the couch of her apartment with the TV playing some old cartoons. Normally whenever she was upset she would cry for a total of thirty seconds, one-minute max, then wipe away the tears and move on. If she was really upset she would talk to Wally, obviously that was not an option tonight. If Wally wasn't around or it was late and she didn't feel the problem was important enough to wake him she would lie on the couch where she did now and watch Alice in Wonderland, but tonight not even that would work. Just a few hours ago Wally had died, according to Barry he just vanished into thin air. Artemis told his parents, and stayed at their house crying with them until less than an hour ago. When she came home she had been forced to tell Brucely that Wally wouldn't be coming home and even he seemed to understand, considering he was currently sleeping in the bedroom on Wally's side of the bed. As for Artemis she wanted nothing more than to just forget the whole day, she wanted to remember the momentary defeat of both the Light and the Reach up until Wally took her in his arms, after that she just wanted to forget. She knew that was impossible, of course, but she thought that maybe if she could sleep she could forget, so she put on mindless cartoons that wouldn't remind her of anything, and if she was lucky they would help her mind go blank. It wasn't working and she was still wide-awake at fifteen minutes past midnight when there was a knock on her door. At first a confused look crossed her face and she sat up halfway, wondering who could be knocking on the door this late. For a brief second her heart jumped with the desperate hope that it might be Wally, still alive and having locked himself out again, and then she internally scolded herself for having watched way too many movies. When the knocking came a second time she got off the couch, not really caring that all she was wearing was shorts and a tank top.

When she opened the door she was surprised to see Jade on the other side, clad in her own pajama pants and baggy sweatshirt.

"Hey sis" she greeted sadly, her tone implying that she knew what had happened.

"Roy told you?" Artemis asked, her voice scratchy from hours of crying.

Jade nodded solemnly, Artemis responded by throwing her arms around her sister's neck and crying. She had cried a lot in the past few hours, and when she was with Wally's parents she felt weak because of it. But now she didn't care, now she needed to cry and Jade let her. The black haired woman hugged her sister tightly and after a moment walked inside without letting go, shutting the door with her foot. Leaning against the door Jade continued to hold her sister and eventually the two girls slid to the ground.

"He shouldn't have been there" Artemis said through her sobs "It wasn't his mission, but he knew they needed, his help" she sniffled.

Jade didn't know if there was anything she could possibly tell her sister, she wouldn't lie and say that things were going to be ok or that she understands, but what else could she say?

"What happened to him?" She finally decided on, of course she wouldn't push Artemis if she didn't want to talk about it but she felt she had to say something, besides maybe Artemis did want to talk about it.

Artemis sniffled a few times before answering. "The last disruptor went chrysalis, Lex Luthor told Flash and Impulse that if they ran around it in the opposite of the direction it was spinning then maybe they could stop it. Wally ran to help and the energy… he just vanished into thin air" Artemis explained, her stronger tears resurfacing by the end of the story.

Artemis didn't see it but a quizzical expression fell over Jade's face, he just vanished into thin air? Jade was never the best science student but she did recall one particularly basic law of physics, stating something about mass can change forms, but can't be created or destroyed. That was when Jade decided that she had one last mission before she officially retired her mask, and Luthor was a good place to start.

* * *

"You didn't tell Artemis?" Roy questioned as he and Jade readied themselves for their mission.

"I can't fill Artemis with that kind of hope if I'm wrong" she defended "besides it'll be a nice surprise" she added, her voice sultry as ever.

Roy rolled his eyes as he watched Jade carefully place their sleeping daughter in her sash, checking to be sure the baby was secure before turning to him, her barely visible eyes asking if he was ready.

"Were dropping her off first" Roy deadpanned, they had agreed that they would leave Lian with Paula but Roy still felt the need to remind Jade.

"I know Red, I learned my lesson after last time" Jade chuckled, causing Roy to smirk.

"Just making sure," he said.

* * *

Two hours later and the two found themselves standing in the office of Lex Luthor, the man in question standing smugly in front of his desk.

"Well what have we here? You know out of all the people I expect may one day break into my office I certainly never expected a partnership between an assassin and a member of the Justice League, or are you a former member now?" Luthor questioned Roy who sneered as he knocked an arrow but Cheshire held a hand up to stop him.

"We share a common goal" she told Luthor, she had never officially joined the Shadow's, only worked as hired help whenever they needed her. One downside to that was she could never be sure of who knew about her and Roy and who didn't, though she suspected Luthor knew and was just waiting for her to say it, she wouldn't take the chance.

Luthor smirked in response, only convincing her further that he knows. "What common goal might that be?" He questioned casually.

"Kid Flash" Cheshire answered in a deadly voice, her relationship with Roy may or may not be a secret to Luthor but she knew that he knows about her relationship with Artemis, and Artemis's relationship with a supposedly deceased speedster.

"Ah yes, a tragic accident really. But your sister should rest peacefully knowing that his sacrifice was not in vein, he saved us all." Luthor mused.

"Except he's not dead is he?" Roy accused more than asked; Luthor simply chuckled in response.

"I know you have a hard time accepting death Red Arrow, but I assure you that Kid Flash is no longer with us." He said, not seeming affected in the least by the young hero's supposed death.

"Luthor among other things you're a brilliant scientist, so you should know that it's impossible for a person to vanish into thin air-" Cheshire began

"Keep in mind we are talking about a young man who gave himself the power of super speed with the use of a sixth grade chemistry set" Luthor interrupted but Cheshire continued as if she hadn't even heard him.

"So what really happened to him?" She demanded in a cold and deadly calm voice. Luthor smirked but didn't answer her, so now it was Roy's turn.

"If there's one thing I know about you Lex it's that you're always prepared. I'm willing to bet that you studied those disrupters just in case, for whatever reason, the energy attacked you. You needed to know what would happen to you if you somehow got caught in a discharge" he accused as he made his way closer to the billionaire, keeping an arrow pointed steadily at his chest. "So what happened to my friend?" He demanded.

* * *

"How sure of this are you?" Nightwing asked when Red Arrow approached him the day following Wally's death, saying that their friend is actually alive.

"Lex Luthor got the information from the Reach ambassador himself" Roy answered "plus Cheshire stole the files off his computer just to make sure" he added, he hadn't yet told anyone in the league about his relationship with the assassin but this was Nightwing he was talking to, the guy probably found out years ago.

"You brought Cheshire with you?" The younger man smirked, oh yeah he knows.

"Look if what Luthor and those files say is true then Wally won't be alive for much longer, if we're going to save him then we have to act fast" Roy said, getting them back on the subject.

Nightwing nodded before placing a hand to his ear "Miss Martian, prepare the bioship" he said into his radio.

"Do we have a mission?" The martian's voice asked over the radio

"Yeah, we're going to the Reach's home world" Nightwing confirmed.


	2. Chapter 2

"So anybody want to tell me what's going on?" Artemis asked, finally breaking the silence inside the bioship, which had been going on for so long that she was beginning to think the others were excluding her from a psychic conversation.

_Wally had died yesterday, and Artemis really had no intentions of leaving her apartment today. But around two in the afternoon there was a knock at her door and when she opened it she found Nightwing standing of the other side._

_"Sorry about this Arty" he said and then without warning he slung her over his shoulder and sprinted to the nearest zeta tube. At first she had been surprised and demanded he let her go and tell her what he was doing, of course he didn't listen. Then it crossed her mind that maybe he was trying to cheer her up, maybe he thought that 'kidnapping' her would make her smile when they finally got where they were going, wouldn't be the first time the team had tried that. But then they zeta tubed to the watchtower and Nightwing didn't put her down until they were inside the bioship._

_"Alright let's go!" He shouted as he put her down and for a moment Artemis thought that maybe her friends had lost it and she was legitimately being kidnapped._

_As the ship took off and Artemis got her bearings she noticed that M'gann was piloting, and sitting in the passengers seats was Kaldur, Connor, Red Arrow, and of all people, Cheshire._

_"What is going on?" She asked; eyes locked onto her sister._

_"Just take a seat Artemis" Nightwing instructed as he took his own seat._

_Artemis opened her mouth to protest but Kaldur spoke up before she could say anything._

_"Cheshire is here to assist us on an important mission, but we need you as well" he explained, his voice calm and commanding as usual._

_Artemis nodded and took her seat, at this point she was still thinking that the team had some insane plan to try and cheer her up and for whatever reason they had called in her sister for help._

So, knowing that when her friends wanted to keep a secret they were more than capable of it, Artemis didn't ask any questions. However when the bioship left earth's atmosphere she drew the line.

"It's for your own good that you don't know yet" Red Arrow answered her.

"So I'm just supposed to let you drag me into outer space without any explanation?" She questioned him bitterly.

"I'll give you a hint" Cheshire offered before tossing her younger sister a lump of orange and black "you're going to need this" she said, Artemis caught the lump and unfolded it only to realize that it was her Tigress costume.

The archer looked at Cheshire with a look that said she trusted her about as far as she could throw Connor, but Nightwing nodded in agreement.

"She's right, and we'll be there soon. Go get changed" he said, Artemis wanted to argue but figured that if the whole team, plus her sister, were all set on not telling her where they were going then what chance did she have? So with a scowl Artemis took the costume and went into the small bathroom in the back of the bioship.

_So what's the plan?_ Connor mentally asked when Artemis had left, he didn't want to ask out loud because the walls of the bioship are far from sound proof, but if she were still present she'd be able to tell they were all talking psychically based on some of their faces.

_According to Luthor's files each disruptor alone only had enough power to transport things from one place to another, which is why the Reach was using so many of them. When the energy at the North Pole used Wally as an exit route, it transported him to the Reach's home world. _Roy replied

_I know but what's the plan? _Connor asked again, quickly losing any patients he had.

_The plan is we infiltrate the Reach's home world and find Wally! _Nightwing shouted in response. _Once we're within the atmosphere M'gann is going on a mental search for Wally, when she finds him we'll let Artemis know what's going on and we'll bring Wally home. _He continued, much more calmly.

_But we don't tell Artemis until then, not until we know for sure that he's alive. _Cheshire put in.

Just then Artemis came back, dressed as Tigress. She took her seat silently, seeming to have given up on getting any information on the mission.

The rest of the flight past silently and that silence was finally interrupted when a small, reddish brown planet, came into view.

"Connor take the controls," M'gann ordered and without a word she and her boyfriend traded seats.

"Preparing to enter atmosphere" Nightwing announced, internally praying that they wouldn't run into any complications.

Artemis looked out the window quizzically at the planet below, the place looked completely destroyed.

_What are we doing here, and why does Connor need to drive all of a sudden? _She wondered and that was when Miss Martian's eyes began glowing.

"Ok I get that you guys clearly want to keep me in the dark, but what is M'gann doing?" The now orange clad archer demanded, she had seen her friend's eyes do this before but only when she was using a lot of her own power.

"She's scanning for life" Nightwing responded, his attention only half focused on Artemis, the other half somewhere distant to the archer.

Again Artemis looked down at the planet, but wasn't quite sure if the distant buildings were abandoned or not.

"She can do that?" She asked, unaware that her friend was not only looking for life, she was looking for a particular one.

"We're about to find out," Nightwing answered.

For a while it was silent, everyone on the ship was practically holding his or her breath as Connor piloted around the gray sky, save for Artemis who still wasn't entirely sure what was going one. Suddenly M'gann gasped

"Connor, go back!" She exclaimed and instantly the ship began flying in reverse.

"Did you find something?" Red Arrow questioned

"I don't know, I think I-stop!" She shouted to Connor and then never finished answering Red Arrow, after another minute she gasped again.

"He's here!" She exclaimed

"Whose here? What is going on?" Artemis asked, by now she was completely lost in the conversation and really just wanted to go home, lie in bed, and cry. Wally, quite possibly the best person to have ever entered her life, had DIED yesterday and her friends decided that for whatever reason they were going to drag her halfway across the solar system without saying why, she was done!

"Wally" Nightwing answered with smile, Artemis felt her heart stop.

* * *

Wally didn't know where he was or how he got there, for a minute he thought he might be dead. The last thing he remembered was an incredible amount of pain, then realizing that he could literally see through his hand and thinking that it was the end, he was about to die. He told Uncle Barry to tell his parents and Artemis that he loves them, then the next thing he knew he was waking up in a dumpster. Looking around he found himself in a city that looked like it was straight out of an apocalypse movie. Peering around a corner he discovered some 'people', and by people he meant aliens that looked to be the same race as the Reach. By that point he concluded that he was in fact alive, alive but god knows how many light-years away from earth. Instantly he felt hungry, he hadn't eaten in a few hours. Opening the snack compartment on his wrist he found he had forgotten to restock it and the only thing inside was a cruel reminder that he was stuck on the other end of the galaxy as his spitfire. He had bought it while she was away, and planned to give it to her, well now, after the mission.

"Knew I should've done it in Paris" he muttered under his breath, if he hadn't wanted to wait until the old team was around he would have, and now he may never get the chance.

After scrounging up some dinner (from the dumpster) Wally slept in an abandoned building, hoping that he'd have an easier time finding a way off this planet after some sleep that wasn't teleportation induced. Once we woke up he left the building, searched for breakfast in the dumpster again, then made sure to stick to the shadows as he made his way around the city. For what seemed like a big city it appeared to have the population of a small town, and based on the destroyed buildings Wally guessed that it wasn't exactly a thriving place.

_Wal- _a sound that almost sounded like M'gann's voice cut into his thoughts, but only for a second before it was gone.

Still, it was enough to make Wally jump and look behind him.

_Hello? _He asked mentally, thinking that if somehow it really was the Martian girl than she would hear him. At first he got no reply and was about to move on when he heard it again.

_Wally? _The voice asked; it was M'gann!

_M'gann?! _Wally returned in surprise, she was then gone for a moment and Wally almost thought he was going crazy, but then her voice came back.

_Wally stay right where you are, we're com- _She began but she never finished, and Wally felt it when the link between them evaporated.

"M'gann?! M'ga-" Wally began to shout but that was when a gag came over his mouth.


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone on the Bioship screamed in agony as the electric shock traveled through their bodies, it felt like the ship had flown right into an electrified net. Even Connor felt the effects and, though he was the last one, he too eventually blacked out.

* * *

When Wally began to come to the first thing he noticed was the feeling of cold steel seeping through his costume, the second thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone. There was something, or someone, pressed up against him. Opening his eyes in alarm he was met with the sight of a blond woman wearing an orange suit with black padding and instantly he forgot about the steel floor beneath him, he didn't notice anything else about his surroundings, all he cared about was that Artemis was sleeping peacefully next to him. Still she was in her Tigress costume and that alarmed Wally, for a minute he wondered how much time had really passed since he was somehow teleported out of the artic, he only hoped it really was a day and that Artemis didn't have enough time to find herself involved with the Light or Shadows again. Deciding that he didn't want to wait until she woke up on her own Wally sat up halfway and propped himself up on his elbow before he began to gently shake his girlfriend's arm.

"Artemis" he said quietly "hey Artemis" he repeated and slowly she began to stir. He saw it when her gray eyes fluttered open beneath her mask. He gave her a smile as she woke and the moment she realized that it was the red headed speedster waking her, her face lit up.

"Wally!" She exclaimed, sitting up and throwing her arms around his neck. Wally laughed as he wrapped his free arm around his girlfriend's waist, then sitting up so that he wasn't leaning on one elbow and also wrapped that arm around her waist. After a minute Artemis pulled out of the hug and Wally received a not so gentle punch to the arm.

"Don't you ever scare me like the again!" Artemis warned; Wally only chuckled as he rubbed his 'injured' bicep.

That was when the others began to wake and Wally noticed that he was in a cage with Artemis, M'gann, and, of all people, Cheshire. On the other side of the room was another cage containing Nightwing, Conner, Aqualad, and Red Arrow. The cages had bars made of thick, red lasers and the room itself appeared to be some sort of storage room. Aside from the two cages it contained a few crates but other than that it was mostly bare; it was also lit only by the light coming off the bars of the cages.

"So you are alive," Red Arrow commented as he came to, a small smile barely visible on his face.

"Yeah, but how did you guys find me? Where even are we?" Wally questioned his friends, he was stoked that they had found him, but he still wanted to know what happened.

"Well we were on the Reach's home planet, but right now it looks like we're being transported somewhere. An electric shock knocked us all out," Nightwing explained and Wally nodded, remembering that after the gag he felt something like a taser being shoved into his hip until he lost consciousness. "As for how we found you, well, we wouldn't have if it weren't for Jade" he continued and Wally couldn't help the surprise on his face as he turned to look at his girlfriend's sister.

"You helped them find me?" He asked her in disbelief, her mask made it nearly impossible for him to tell if she was surprised by his surprise or not.

"Don't get too comfortable West, I just didn't want to spend the rest of my life listening to Roy and Artemis blame themselves for your death" she excused but just about everyone knew she was lying.

Just then a door opened and an alien, again looking to be of the same race as the Reach, walked into the room. He was tall and wore a gray uniform as if he was a prisoner, but the heroes knew that he was most likely the exact opposite.

"Hm, you're awake" he mused as he inspected the two cages.

"Where are we?" Conner demanded

"Oh so you can talk. No matter, the dome is soundproof anyway." The alien said, speaking to himself more than Conner or any of the others. He then began to walk away.

"Hey!" Conner called after him, his blood boiling.

"Oh sorry, I didn't realize how disoriented you creatures must be." The alien remarked, turning back to face group and explain the situation. "We discovered you trespassing and obviously for the reasons of public safety such an offence is not tolerated," he explained.

"So you are taking us to a prison?" Kaldur questioned but the alien only smirked

"Not quite" he responded.

* * *

"So Wally gets himself transported to the home world of some of earth's greatest enemies and as his friends we come after him, therefore we all end up as an exhibit in an intergalactic zoo." Roy summed up after the eight of them had been dumped into a 'habitat'.

"And thank you for coming to save me, now how do we get out of here?" Wally asked as they stood around their 'habitat'.

The habitat was a fairly large wooded area with a translucent dome covering it. It was far off in the corner of the zoo, which the eight now found themselves captives of. Naturally they were staying towards the back corner where nobody could see them.

"Not sure. Superboy hasn't been able to punch through the dome, which is also cutting off any communication back to earth" Nightwing reported.

"None of our arrows could get through either" Artemis reported.

"What about the ground?" Cheshire questioned but to that Conner only shook his head as he approached the group.

"No good, underneath all the dirt is the same technology as the dome," he reported and Nightwing nodded.

"I'll see if I can hack the security, but it could take awhile." He told the group, by the looks of things they were stuck here for the night.

They all slept off in the back corner, except for Nightwing who decided he would stay up all night trying to hack the dome that kept them contained. At first Wally had been a little hesitant to lie down beside Artemis, considering her sister was around. Dick couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Wally's face turn red as his hair and he almost laughed harder when he saw Artemis and Jade silently laughing at the speedster. Eventually though Jade had enough of mocking the poor guy and lay down beside her husband, turning her head away from Wally and Artemis just to make a point.

* * *

A couple hours later, however, Jade was still yet to fall asleep so she got up and began walking. When Nightwing gave her a skeptical look she informed him the she was just going to check out the front of the dome, he simply said "ok". Walking though the trees and making her way to the front of the habitat Jade could see that there were a few other habitats nearby, and the creatures inside each one didn't exactly look friendly. Suddenly she heard something behind her, instinctively she took up a fighting stance as she turned around but dropped it when she saw that it was only Wally.

"You know you really shouldn't sneak up on me," she warned

"I wasn't sneaking" he defended, raising his hands up as if in surrender. "I just wanted to thank you. I didn't think I was ever going to see Artemis again," he confessed but Jade didn't say anything, she didn't really know what to say.

When he saw that Jade wasn't going to reply Wally moved onto his next order of business. "I've already talked to your mom and Green Arrow about this, and tell me if you think I should talk to your dad, but, how do I say this? I love Artemis and I don't ever want to let her go" Wally began, Cheshire's only thought was that he could not seriously be trying to say what she thought he was. "I want to know if you would be ok with me asking Artemis to marry me?" Wally spluttered out, he had been nervous when it was Green Arrow and Paula, but he was finding that Jade, who technically he didn't really need to ask, was much harder.

At least with Artemis's mother and mentor he had been fairly confident. He knew her mother liked him; she once even went as far as to say he was like a son to her. Green Arrow was a little harder to read, but when it came down to it Wally knew that the archer supported the speedster's relationship with his protégée. But Jade is a completely different story. Even without her signature mask Wally couldn't figure out what was going through her head. He doesn't know much about her, he knew that she was trying to leave the life behind but he had no idea how well that was actually going for her. But whether she is still an assassin or if she's a former one didn't matter to Wally because he knew that either way she is still good enough to kill him and burry the evidence.

"My dad will just try and talk you out of it" Jade finally said "he'll tell you you're wasting your time and that one day Artemis will leave the hero gig behind to join the Shadows, don't talk to him." She warned before giving a small grin, "as for me, if I didn't want you and my sister together I wouldn't have risked my neck against Luthor to find you." She explained and that was all Wally needed for a huge smile of relief and joy to light up his face.

"Jade, Wally, get back here!" They heard Nightwing call and so without a word they both hurried back to the others, obviously Wally beat Jade.

Once there they found that everyone else was awake and Nightwing was typing away at his wrist computer.

"I've found a way to shut down the dome but I can't take out the alarm it'll set off. Fortunately the dome only disables communication going out, not coming in. The bioship was able to track us here and alert Miss Martian that it's outside, but we're going to have to fight our way out when the guards hear the alarm. Unless we want to hang around a few more days and see if I can figure out the alarm." Nightwing explained, just as he expected everyone was willing to take their chances with the guards, they weren't staying any longer.


	4. Chapter 4

_Is everyone ready?_ Kaldur asked through their mind link

_Ready up front _came Artemis's reply, she and Roy were positioned at the front of their habitat with arrows ready, ready to take out the first of any guards.

_Dome will go down on your order Aqualad_ Nightwing confirmed.

Quickly making one last visual scan to ensure that everyone was ready Aqualad decided that it was now or never, and ordered Nightwing to disable the dome.

Once it was down they all began running, Kid Flash obviously going slower than his capability in order to watch the backs of his friends.

The first two guards who appeared looked very much like the groups initial handler, in fact Artemis could've sworn he was one of them. She and Red Arrow each shot an arrow at the guards, both arrows released a quick harden foam upon contact and soon the two guards were immobile.

_They didn't get to the alarm, hopefully that means we'll have it easy_ Nightwing commented through the link as they ran.

_No offence but do we ever have things easy?_ Connor asked and just then five more guards appeared, each of them firing some sort of blaster gun.

_Nope and it doesn't look like today will be the exception _Nightwing said as they tried to dodge the blasts.

Each of the guards began firing off the blasters as the group advanced through the zoo. The archer's fired their arrows, Aqualad deflected blasts with his water swords, Cheshire did the same with her Sais, and so on. They were all holding their own and were nearly halfway to the door when suddenly Artemis's shout was heard throughout the zoo.

It all happened so fast, Red Arrow and Artemis were at the head of the pack and the next thing they knew Artemis was down. Roy stopped to look back when he heard her shout and then ran back. The blond archer was collapsed on the ground, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and pain, and her whole body was shaking furiously.

"TIGRESS IS DOWN!" He shouted as he stood over her, firing off his arrows in all directions.

Within an instant Wally was at her side and trying to get her up but it was no use.

"Artemis!" He exclaimed

"I'm fine, I just can't move" she insisted, sure that the others could tell she was lying. It was true that she couldn't move, apart from shaking, but she was far from fine. Every single part of her body hurt with an intense stinging sensation and she actually found herself wishing that it would all go numb.

_Kid Flash get Tigress to the bioship, we'll be right behind you_ M'gann's voice telepathically rang in everyone's heads.

_Already on it _he responded and it was true, he had lifted Artemis into his arms before M'gann even said anything. He sped off at his top speed, keeping an extra tight grip on Artemis since her arms wouldn't listen to her when she tried to hold onto him.

Artemis wouldn't admit it but she was scared, she had been hit with a lot of strange weapons and concoctions of chemicals throughout her life, and normally she was afraid of the one's which took hours to take effect, but this was different. This was something from another world, something Nightwing or Black Canary or pretty much anyone on earth might not be able to fix.

"Hang on Artemis, it's going to be ok" Wally assured her as they reached the bioship and he placed her on the long table off to the side which they used for situations exactly like this.

For a moment Artemis was able to ignore the pain because Wally, who just yesterday she had believed to be dead, was sitting right beside her, holding her hand, and gazing worriedly into her eyes. For a moment she was able to rejoice in the true miracle of him being here with her.

But that only lasted for a moment.

It was then that her head began to pound with a powerful migraine and her eyelids grew heavy, she fought to keep herself conscious and tried to focus on the seemingly far away voice of her boyfriend as he begged her to hang in there. But she just couldn't, and the last thing she saw was the blurred faces of her boyfriend and sister looking down at her in concern.

* * *

When the rest of the team made it to the ship M'gann was forced to take off before the ramp was fully retracted because the guards were so close, but they all heard Wally.

"Artemis come on, the others are here! Just hang in there for a little longer, we're moving! We'll be home in no time!" He said to her in a pleading tone, he was holding her hand in both of his up to his heart, as if he could transfer part of his own life force by doing so.

Cheshire wasted no time and practically threw her mask off as she rushed over to stand beside Wally and get a look at her sister, whose eyes closed just as she got there. Instead of panicking she checked for a pulse, and was beyond relieved when she found one.

"Ok, she's alive for now" Jade announced as she let out a breath

"For now?!" Wally nearly snapped

"She'll be fine!" Jade snapped back

"How can you be sure?" Wally demanded, his hand still holding tight to Artemis's even as he flung his arms around.

"Enough!" Nightwing shouted, cutting Jade off before she could even speak. "Don't even pretend I don't know you two have talked on civil terms. You're both on the same page, at least when it comes to Artemis, so calm down and stop letting your fear get the best of you. Artemis is a strong girl, I've seen her survive way worse than a stun gun, she'll be alright." Nightwing assured. Wally and Jade exchanged apologetic glances with each other, and silently agreed that Nightwing was right about their outbursts being rooted in fear.

"How can you be sure?" Wally questioned his best friend, his voice much more even and calm.

"Because Artemis would never let herself be taken out so easily," he answered confidently.

* * *

The ride back was almost as silent as the ride there; Artemis's unconscious state took away anyone's ideas of celebrating Wally's rescue. Jade examined her sister once Wally worriedly exclaimed that he felt her skin was growing cold. Removing Artemis's mask and placing a hand on her forehead Jade could see what he meant, her face was cold, clammy, and sweaty. But her pulse was still strong and that told Jade all that she needed to know.

"Whatever hit her contained poison, it's trying to kill her but it's not enough." She announced

"What if it is?" Connor asked, voicing the very question Wally didn't want answered.

"It won't be. Artemis has a high tolerance for poison, we both do. Dad made sure of that." She added the last bit quietly and bitterly, but Connor didn't need his super hearing to hear it. Jade just went back to her seat as though she had said nothing

"If her pulse get's weak say something" she instructed Wally without even looking over her shoulder.

"You ok?" Roy asked when she sat down.

"Fine" she answered with a shrug and he sighed, he knew what was bothering her.

He could tell that she did know Artemis would be ok, but she was terrified that the poison would kill her and then she would never get the chance to fix things between them. He put a hand on her shoulder and she tried to shrug him off but he remained.

"Jade" he said sternly and she chuckled

"Seriously Red I'm fine" she said, her voice surprisingly honest.

Despite the honesty in her voice Roy could still see what she was hiding, most of the time Jade could pull anything straight over Roy's head, which he considered Lian to be living proof of. But every once in a while she would let her guard down, and he would look past his own nose, and then he could read her. He could see that she was scared, that she wanted him to wrap his arms around her and hold her until everything was better. But she was still conscious of her image and what other's thought of her, something they both wished she wasn't.

"Hey" he said as he removed his hand from her shoulder, prompting her to look at him "I'm here" he assured her and she gave him just the smallest of smiles

"I know," she confirmed.

* * *

When Artemis finally woke up the first thing she heard was Wally shouting

"Guys! She's coming too!" He joyfully exclaimed, even in her groggy state she rolled her eyes at him.

In that moment her senses came back to her and instantly she felt awful. She registered that she was in a room of the med bay of the watchtower, which was all she needed to know. She felt the rising bile inside of her as it touched the very base of her throat and bolted for the bathroom. She only threw up once, but the strange and almost heavy taste in her mouth told her that her 'sickness' was her body getting rid of poison, something she had done before on more than one occasion. She knelt over the toilet breathing heavily, as if waiting to be sick again. Once she felt she was safe she slowly stood up and returned to the bigger part of the room where she found Wally standing sheepishly by the door.

"No one heard me," he confessed and she rolled her eyes as she began hunting for her clothes. "Jade said that blast had poison in it" he informed her and she chuckled.

"You and my sister are on a first name basis?" She asked and Wally chuckled

"Hey you were out for almost six hours, a lot can happen." He defended with a smirk as he tossed Artemis her clothes.

"Thanks" she said with an amused glare.

"So" Wally said, his voice suddenly serious and nervous, "are you going to be Tigress from now on? I know we were leaving the life and that's still what I want but if you want to stay-" he started rambling but Artemis cut him off, almost sadly.

"Wally. I'll admit that when Nightwing asked me to go undercover I couldn't say yes fast enough; all I wanted was to go back. But the second I got there, the second I set foot on that ship, I knew I made a huge mistake." She turned to face him "I cried myself to sleep almost every night and counted down the minutes until it was all over and I could go home. The team is the best thing that ever happened to me, but I'm ready to move on with you" she assured him and Wally grinned.

He had planed to do this with the old team around, but this moment was just too perfect. By now they were face to face and he dug through his pocket as he got down on one knee, he had taken the ring out of his costume when he changed into his civies. Artemis gasped as he got down, one hand nearly flying over her mouth in surprise and Wally thought she might be sick again.

"Good because I never want to worry like that again, so Artemis, will you marry me?" He asked, he felt like what he had said was maybe the stupidest thing that could've come out of his mouth but he couldn't help it, he was so nervous! He didn't really no why he was this nervous, after all they've been together for five years, he figured if she was going to leave then she would've done it already.

The next thing Wally knew Artemis was on the ground with him and had practically crashed her lips into his own.

"Yes" she breathed when they finally pulled apart, Wally couldn't help but kiss her again.

* * *

**Ok so sorry it took so long for the update! My schedule with school and work recently got really crazy and i'm still trying to find a pattern in it. Thanks so much for having patients with me and this last chapter, this was originally supposed to be a one shot but obviously that didn't happen :) Thanks so much for the kind reviews, they really have meant a lot to me! So glad people read and enjoyed this story!**


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